Dear Rita,
W came here to win. I’ve tried to explain to him that he is too young, too inexperienced, too under-ranked…but he is not impressed by any of that. He comes out of the box every day, gives me more than I ask for and amazingly, improves in all of his work on a daily basis. I am impressed.
(The part that is hard to put into words is about his HAIR. You have to understand that this horse has a lot of it, and he loves to flip it around. You have to see it to understand it, but he believes he can win because he has the best hair. Seriously.)
Our first test last weekend went very well. I think it was the best GP I’ve ever ridden on W even though I have sometimes had a better feeling in the contact. In any case, the judges liked the test too, and I ended up with a score of 70.25 percent, which was good for seventh place.
Now Rita, that might not sound like much (the seventh place) at first glance, but don’t forget that W came into our selections ranked 13th. So for me, this was a big leap forward. Also, we were very close to the three horses above us—within .5 percent of Pierre St. Jacques/Lucky Tiger, Susan Blinks/Robin Hood and Lauren Sammis/Sagacious.
W came back in the Grand Prix Special on Sunday and closed the gap. We scored better than the previously mentioned pairs and came within .7 percent of Todd Flettrich and his eveready Otto to finish fourth in the test and fourth overall for the weekend. All contenders ride the Grand Prix again on Friday and the freestyle on Sunday. After that, we will know who will represent the USA in Kentucky!
ADVERTISEMENT
Now that is all boring information, Rita. What you really need to know is that I had the greatest feeling of all time on Winyamaro in the Grand Prix Special. We had one little glitch in the first piaffe, but other than that, he laid himself out there at full power in extended trot/passage/extended canter and the flying changes. W ROCKS! So come to Gladstone and watch the final two tests this weekend! We want to see you there.
In case you cannot attend the last leg of the Selection Trials, you can view the competition on your computer by going to www.useflive.com. You can also check out the Chronicle website for photos, video and coverage after the class. The Grand Prix begins Friday at 2 p.m. and the freestyle is on Sunday at 8 a.m.
I’m Catherine Haddad, and I’m sayin’ it like it is from Gladstone, New Jersey.
Training Tip of the Day: Concentrate on riding the test, not on winning it.
